"Who is this Savadear I keep hearing about?" Two years ago, Mr Wild Dingo whispered that very question, which had been burning in his mind for too long, to a Francophone at work. Bemused, the Francophone laughed. "Not 'Savadear,'  'Ça veut dire,'" he replied.  The expression literally translates as "it wants to say" but actually means "it means."

I looked like the total American trying to walk into a Coop Supermarket on Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m. Nothing was open. I should have known better. It was Holy Thursday. Switzerland basically shuts almost down everything from Thursday night to Tuesday morning. So if you're out of milk, you almost have to suffer for 4 […]

When we travel, Mr. Wild Dingo focuses on history and ancient sites. I focus on landscape, culture, city vibe, pretty things and cuisine. So other than my gluttonous indulgence in Italian cuisine, I had only one other mission going to Venice: glass. And lots of it.

Our hotel was just a 1-minute walk from the Bridge of Sighs. The enclosed bridge with the two square windows connects the prisons to the interrogation room in Doge's Palace, which by the way was much more stunning than I anticipated. A local legend says that lovers will be granted everlasting love and bliss if […]

Maybe I'm biased, but Italian food is hands down, the best cuisine in the world. Most often it's simply prepared but can be as equally elegant as French cuisine. In Italian cuisine,  flavors are raw, original and not subverted. While French cuisine is complex, flavor can sometimes be hidden or overtaken. Italian food on the other hand, never […]

The Venetian Fort overlooking Chania's outer harbor. Chania, Crete's Venetian quarter, was the perfect place to stay. For centuries this tiny harbor port area has been fought over and controlled by Minoans, Mycaneans, Romans, Byzantinnes, Ventians, Genoese, Turks and Egyptians.  

"Bulls and boobies," said Mr. Wild Dingo as we left Knosos, "that pretty much sums up Minoan society." Well, sorta. There were plenty of other symbols around Knosos.

The first thing you notice about Cretan culture is the impact of spiral design on both ancient Minoan and modern-day art. 

For fun, Mr. Wild Dingo and I read our "compatibility horoscope" while in Crete.  The 14-page document basically summed up that we both liked to do everything in excess. In other words, we're luxury enablers.

A few of you have asked about the castle in some of the shots I take and post on this blog. I've written about it a few times but not in-depth. It's Vufflens the castle in the municipal called Vufflens Le Chateau, population 781. The castle was built in the middle ages and is unique because it was one […]